I might have two offers to ride horses for other people. I never thought about doing that, until I realized how out of shape I’ve become from not riding. SO… I’m going to take up the ladies on their offer. I’ll have to bring some fo my gear back from Tennessee, but hey better to be used than not. Yay! Riding! I wish it was on my girl but at least this will...
Continue reading...Horses
Horse Masters Meeting
Tonight was a Horse Masters meeting tonight at the Occoneechee Steakhouse in Hillsborough, NC. The last meeting was also held there. Good food, pretty reasonable prices. One of the ladies in Horse Masters had called ahead and confirmed that the restaurant could handle a group of 20-25. Meeting started at 7:00. Nice chatting with everyone. Everyone trickled in by about 7:15 or 7:30. There are some interesting upcoming seminars and a neat show...
Continue reading...Poem: Transfer of Owners
This poem was written in 1994 at a point when I was going through a traumatic time: financial difficulties, 8 funerals in 18 months (including my Dad), and then the worst of all… Losing my horse. I felt your breath soft on my neck myriad memories tickling my mind like whiskers falling from clippers Luminous eyes glazed with the day’s work and the field is dust flicking through the stall washed with bespeckled...
Continue reading...HorseMasters Clinic
I went to my first HorseMasters’ clinic on May 24th. It was a clinic designed to teach horses and riders about schooling over fences, from using ground poles to start a horse over fences to more advanced jumps and gymkhana. It was the exact level that Isis and I could have used. I missed my girl! Because Isis is still in Tennessee, I volunteered to help — maybe six hours in all? I...
Continue reading...Equine Withdrawl
I have pictures of Isis all over my cube. Her face is the background on my cell phone. I carry several hundred megabytes worth of pictures of her every where I go on my MP3 player. It is almost impossible to express how much I miss her. It’s like having your sanity in another state… Missing her is part of why the house not selling has been hitting me so hard. All I...
Continue reading...Writing for other blogs
What are the implications of writing for another blog?
Continue reading...Some good horsey news
Remember the lady I had called earlier about boarding near Hillsborough? She called me last night. Her daughter is going of to college so she’ll have space for one boarder? Well she called me. Originally I had told her that what she wanted would be too much and that I wanted to check around. (And I have not… Her rates were about par for the course, but no one else had the type...
Continue reading...Visiting the Horse
Sometimes sanity comes in the form of a 950 pound bay Arabian. I saw Isis on Sunday after visiting with a friend (or someone who used to be a very dear friend and now seems to have issues talking to me). She and Penny were grazing in the paddock near the barn. Isis saw my car, knickered, and trotted over to me. (huge grin) It made my day. Silly girl is really out...
Continue reading...Miracle Mare: Above and Beyond
A friend of mine is working on a book and had asked me if there were any situations I’d like to share where my horse had gone above and beyond what might normally be expected. My initial reaction was ‘Where do I start?’ I have lost almost half of Isis’s available riding time to medical issues. Isis had two boughts with laminitis and recovered fully with little to no rotation and the farrier...
Continue reading...Video of Isis
I worked Isis on December 23 and had a blast with her. It was wonderful. She played in the huge water puddle at the end of the ring. And showed off — especially when I took out my camera and recorded her running around: The full size video is also available (64 MB AVI file). (Please let me know if you have trouble with this video. It’s the first time I’ve uploaded one.)...
Continue reading...Missing the Barn
It has been rainy and cold this week, so I haven’t been out to the barn except last weekend. I miss it. I can feel the withdrawl sinking in. I want to go riding so much. Pretty sad when you miss your horse and feel like you’ve lost your sanity? I also feel guilty about not being out there. I’ve been worried about Stella too this week and have been trying to stay...
Continue reading...My Mom Is COOL
Mom was in Paris for the Arabian World Championships at the Salon du Cheval during the second week in December. No horse at the show, she just went to watch. It’s something she has wanted to do for years. And you know what? She did it. (Go Mom!) When you’ve gone to enough horse shows, you’ll run into people you know at almost any show. And of course, this show was no exception...
Continue reading...Shalom, Sabbath
On November 18, Mom called me in France and left a voicemail. Sabbath, the gorgeous bay mare that had bred to Sirdar (Isis’ sire), died. I’ve included Mom’s email below. Sabbath was by Ibn Amoura, a gorgeous stallion that I had wanted desperately to breed Isis too. I made the decision not to breed Isis because of her insulin resistance. Mom and I had worked out a deal: I took Rajiyyah, worked with...
Continue reading...Sadness
I’m on a mailing list for owners of horses who are insulin resistant and/or have Cushings. These can be very serious conditions for horses if left untreated. These metabolic conditions can not be cured, only managed. Isis has insulin resistance and so far we’ve kept her well managed. We have been lucky. She had two cases of laminitis back to back (side effects of the insulin resistance) but neither episode left much damage....
Continue reading...Recent Books on Equine Archaeology/History
I’ve been looking for current publications on equine archaeology and history. You would be surprised what is out there! I found four books that covered proceedings from the International Council for Archaeozoology meeting in Durham, UK, 2002. It sounds like it would have been an awesome conference. Equids in time and space, edited by Marjan Mashkour (2006). From the description: “There are methodological as well as historical chapters dealing with problems ranging from...
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